Hurricane Michael: Florida Panhandle Braces 'Potentially Catastrophic' Winds

Hurricane Michael is poised to make landfall in North Florida later Wednesday packing 145 mile per hour winds, the National Hurricane Center said, after hammering oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico amid what could be the most damaging storm to hit the United States in more than a decade.
By Martin Baccardax ,

Hurricane Michael is poised to make landfall in North Florida later Wednesday packing 145 mile per hour winds, the National Hurricane Center said, after hammering oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico amid what could be the most damaging storm to hit the United States in more than a decade.

The NHC said the "potentially catastrophic" category 4 storm is now about 70 miles southwest of Apalachicola, Florida, and travelling at around 13 miles per hour, in a path that has already taken out nearly 40% of the Gulf's oil production capacity, grounded 230 flights and sparked severe weather warnings from North Florida to the Carolina coast. 

"On the forecast track, the eye of Michael is expected to move ashore over the Florida Panhandle later today, move northeastward across the southeastern United States tonight and Thursday, and then move off the Mid-Atlantic coast away from the United States on Friday," the NHC said. "Reports from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that maximum sustained winds have increased to near 145 mph (230 km/h) with higher gusts. Michael is an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Some additional strengthening is possible before landfall. After landfall, Michael should weaken as it crosses the southeastern United States."

Despite that storm's impact on Gulf oil output, which has shuttered some 75 rigs and clipped more than 680,000 barrels from the normal production run, global crude prices continued to decline Wednesday following the International Monetary Fund's global growth forecast downgrade yesterday and the concurrent bets that slowing China demand will weigh on prices.

Brent crude contracts for December delivery, the global benchmark, were seen $1.54 lower from their Tuesday close in New York and changing hands at $83.66 per barrel while WTI contracts for November delivery, which are more tightly liked to U.S gas prices, were seen $1.40 lower at $73.56 per barrel.

Hurricane Michael is also set to bring deadly storm surges to the Florida panhandle as it makes landfall later today, with the NHC reporting that the National Ocean Service water level station at Apalachicola saw more than four feet of inundation above ground level Wednesday, a figure that could rise to 14 feet over normal tides at the storm's peak.

Federal Energy Management Agency administrator Brock Long warned Wednesday that "those who stick around to experience storm surge don't typically live to tell about it" and urged residents to heed FEMA's "final call" to evacuate.

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